1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to control of a print system in which an external operating apparatus, a printer, and a host computer each having a communication interface for mutually transmitting and receiving information in a real-time manner are connected so that they can communicate with each other via an interruption control signal and a printer driver.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, generally, in the case of using a printer to print a digital image photographed by a digital camera or the like, the digital image is stored into a hard disk on a PC (Personal Computer) and, thereafter, browsed, edited, and printed by using software on the PC.
Among recent printers, there is a printer having a card slot for inserting a recording medium which is used in the digital camera or the like and an operation panel for receiving a print setting instruction from the user, and having a function of printing a digital image in the recording medium by the printer alone without being connected to a PC.
Among such printers, there is also a printer such that the image is displayed by a dedicated LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitor equipped for the printer or an externally-connected monitor and setting and printing can be executed by using the operation panel while looking at contents displayed on the monitor.
However, in the conventional general printing method via the host PC, the operation of a mouse or a keyboard is accompanied, it is indispensable to execute the operation of software on the PC, and it is not always easy to print.
In the case of the printer having the card slot and the operation panel, although the operation is easy, there is a problem such that a display screen of the operation panel and the dedicated monitor are small and it is difficult to perform print setting and browse the image. Further, since the printing is executed solely by the printer, resources such as CPU, memory, and the like of the printer are costly and there is a case where print speed and print quality are inferior to those in printing via the host PC.